Fingerprints on Figurines From Thonis‐heracleion

Abstract

SummaryThis paper studies ancient fingerprints to produce an estimate of the age and sex of the makers of several terracotta figurines found at Thonis‐Heracleion in Egypt, dated to the Late and Ptolemaic periods (seventh–second centuries BC). This is only the second study of its kind to discuss the use of ancient fingerprint impressions from Ancient Egypt and the first to apply this method to Late Period/Ptolemaic material using RTI (reflectance transformation imaging) to obtain measurements. Albeit at a preliminary stage, the findings suggest the involvement of men, women, and children in figurine production, both for locally produced wares and imported Greek figurines, contrary to the image of figurine‐makers presented in ancient Greek literary sources, which portray figurine production as a predominantly male profession. The results also allow insight into questions of training and apprenticeship of ancient figurine production, with various stages of training being represented in the data.